Global Shift in Furniture Making

Wooden household furniture tends to be a durable good that is highly responsive to personal income expectations. Its purchase often represents a major investment by consumers in household and office furniture, for instance. There is a clear tendency to postpone the purchase when income expectations decline, and vice versa, increase purchase if personal incomes prosper. Consumption is also affected by demographic factors such as birth rates, marriage rates, life expectancy and household size. It is also responsive to the degree of social and geographic mobility of the population.

The demand for household furniture and accessories directly correlate with new residential construction, and office furniture follows trends in non-residential construction. A growing segment, however, is the renovation, maintenance and improvement (RMI) sector, which already accounts for 40-50% of total construction in Western Europe. Increasing mobility of the population is also feeding furniture replacement purchases. For example in the United States, about 40 million people move home every year. This often triggers furniture shopping. Furniture is becoming more a fashion item with shorter change intervals, trend-setting and even seasonal styles. This means that the life cycle of household furniture is becoming shorter, and the collections themselves will have to be renewed more frequently. The key to success in mass markets is flexible and cost-efficient production, with savvy designs.

In summary, the key factors that influence the demand for household furniture include:

· Disposable personal income

· Consumer confidence

· New housing and non-residential building starts

· Increase in the average size of new houses

· Increase in the number of bedrooms in new single-family homes.

Consumers in the United States and the European Union markets have been induced to accept more eccentric and ethnic designs and mixed styles from exotic countries. This is an indispensable opportunity for a “globalised” furniture trader, who sources items from all over the world. Equally, it is the lifeline for “traditional” furniture-makers in the developing countries.